Smelling Like What Swallowed Us: Second Chances and the Mystery of Mercy - Jonah 3

You're listening to the Christ Our Cornerstone

podcast, a ministry of Christ Our Cornerstone

Church in O 'Neill, Nebraska. I'm Pastor Logan

Merrick, and it's our prayer that this message

strengthens your faith and draws you closer to

Christ. Let's dive in. All right. What did we

talk about last week? Jonah chapter two is what

we unpacked. You guys remember what was taking

place then? That's right Noah, thank you. Noah

did like this. Jonah's praying, where's Jonah

at? He's in the belly, right, of a gigantic fish.

And he ultimately... Goes to hell she all is

what he talks about right? He's in this he's

in the very depths of the sea of the ocean and

so then he is vomited out and I searched and

searched to find out where exactly was was Jonah

vomited out at and You may be like why does that

matter? Well, it says it was a three -day journey

from where he was to Nineveh So there are some

theologians that they're like, we don't know

exactly where he was, but we do think that he

was very close to where he entered, got on the

boat. And so I titled this sermon today, Back

to the Beginning, Embracing Mercy, Humility and

Repentance. And so sometimes God has to, when

he tells us to do something and we disobey and

go the opposite direction, God will ultimately

get you back to where you need to be and where

he wants you to be, but you ultimately start

back at the beginning, right? And so here's my

big idea for this sermon. God's mercy is available

to all who repent, and through humility, we can

experience his transformative grace leading to

a life of faithful witness. So Jonah, as we're

gonna read, does go to Nineveh. So let's go ahead

and unpack that now if you've got a Bible. Like

I said, Jonah chapter three, if you don't, we've

got Bibles in the back. That's our gift to you.

We also will have it right up here. So here we

go, Jonah chapter three, starting in verse one.

Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second

time. Note that it says the second time. He is

the God of second chances. saying, arise, go

to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against

it the message that I tell you. So Jonah arose

and went to Nineveh according to the word of

the Lord. Bless you. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly

great city. Three days journey in the breath

of Jonah, or in breath, Jonah began to go into

the city, going a day's journey, and he called

out. Yet a 40 days, or yet, 40 days and Nineveh

shall be overthrown. And the people of Nineveh

believed God. They called for a fast and put

on sackcloth for the greatest of them to the

least of them. The word reached the king of Nineveh

and he arose from his throne, removed his robe,

covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes.

If you're unfamiliar with the grieving process,

this is the grieving process. in those times.

And so they would strip their clothes. If you

read the book of Job, you see this. And they

would cover themselves in ashes as a way of grief.

Verse seven, and he issued a proclamation and

published through Nineveh by the decree of the

king and his nobles. Let neither man nor beast,

herd nor flock taste anything. Let them not feed

or drink water. but let man and beast be covered

with sackcloth and let them call out mightily

to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and

from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows?

God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce

anger so that we may not perish. When God saw

what they did, how they turned from their evil

way. God relented of the disaster that he had

said he would do to them and he did not do it.

So I want you to think about, have you ever witnessed

yourself not read about or anything like that?

Have you ever witnessed a true revival? I'm not

talking about what we can do a Southern Baptist

and put up a tent for a week and hold services

in that tent and call that revival. That's not

what I'm talking about. Have you ever seen a

revival where whole towns, whole churches, whole

schools, whole cities are completely repentant

and they turn from what they're doing and all

run towards God. Now you can say, what are you

talking about a church? I'm talking about churches

that turn and see that they are dead and they

want holiness. Have you ever seen that yourself?

No. It's a true gift from God. My wife and I

can tell you growing up, in the south, we've

witnessed a lot of fake, and we're going up in

the Charismatic Church, we've witnessed a lot

of fake revivals, a lot of emotion, but no real

change. And so what we see right here with Jonah

going to Nineveh is one gigantic, massive revival.

In 1904, In a small town in Wales, a young coal

miner named Evan Roberts couldn't sleep. He wasn't

a preacher, he wasn't famous, and he didn't have

a pulpit or a plan. He just had a growing, unbearable

conviction that God was calling him to pray and

to speak. Roberts finally stood up in a small

church and said something simple. He didn't shout,

he didn't entertain. He just called people to

repent, to obey God immediately, and to confess

Christ openly. And something happened. Men who

had mocked the church began to weep. Bars started

closing because no one was drinking anymore.

Police officers formed choirs because there was

so little crime to deal with. In the coal mines,

the horses stopped obeying commands. Not because

they were stubborn, but because the miners had

stopped cursing. The horses were so confused,

they're like, you're not using terminology I'm

familiar with. In less than a year, over a hundred

thousand people turned to Christ. No strategy,

no celebrity, no marketing campaign, no rock

star bands, no fog machines. Just one man who

obeyed God in a city that listened. And when

we open Jonah chapter three, we see something

that's very uncomfortably familiar. This could

have been Jonah's story from the very beginning.

He could have been Evan Roberts from the beginning,

but instead Jonah took the long way around. And

like most of us, it takes a wake -up call and

smelling like vomit. for us to obey, and that

is where we find Jonah. Back to where he started,

but now he's stinky, he's smelly, he's sticky,

and he's a lot more humble. Now, quickly, I will

say this. I think the story of Jonah spread before

Jonah got to Nineveh. I think people saw him

be puked up from this gigantic fish and they're

like, oh my lord, this dude just came from the

pits of hell and he's back. And word travels

fast, you know? And so I think Nineveh, when

he did show up, reeking, smelling, they knew

who he was, but ultimately it doesn't matter

because it wasn't who he was, it was who he represented.

So if we look at Jonah one through three, then

the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second

time saying, arise, go to Nineveh, that great

city, and call out against it with a message

that I tell you. So Jonah rose and went to Nineveh

according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh

was exceedingly great city, three days journey

in breath. Let me ask you something. Do you think,

that Jonah at this point, more than anyone should

understand the grace and mercy of God. Yep. And

yet still, Jonah doesn't get it. And we'll look

at that in just a second. But he serves a God

of new chances. And so by the time we reach Jonah

chapter three, Jonah himself is the walking poster

child for God's rich mercy and patience. God

doesn't change the assignment. He gives Jonah

another chance so it's funny because the it says

The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time

and God's like and by the way, I'm not changing

anything about this Just keep going Jonah ran

Jonah fought and Jonah learned the hard way that

disobedience always costs more than obedience

He comes out of the fish alive, but he's not

sanitized Jonah likely smelled like vomit. As

I've said, he carried the evidence of rebellion

on him. Many of us carry the stench of rebellion

on us. No matter your story, when you disobey

God, you carry, let's just say, I think that

an alcoholic, who's come to the saving knowledge

of Jesus Christ can understand how Jonah smelled.

So, if we're honest, some of us know all too

well that smell. Sometimes refusal to repent

and obey God leaves us spiritually and even physically

wrecked. Drinking, partying, running from conviction

doesn't make life better. It leaves us smelling

like what swallowed us. Yet God speaks again

and again and again to come out That's grace

Not a reset because Jonah earned it but because

God is patient and committed to his purposes

Jonah's walk to Nineveh is proof that God doesn't

discard broken servants. He restores them And

so many of us had to learn obedience the hard

way We said no when God said go we fought him

and came out the other side battered and bruised

and some of us broken I shared that a little

bit last week for my own personal story and God

in mercy ultimately says hey Let's try this again

Are you ready to listen now? Does it hurt bad

enough now? The good news is that God still gives

second chances and the good news is We don't

have to learn every lesson the hard way. Just

say yes the first time. When God's telling you

to do something, it's a lot easier to just go

ahead and obey, no matter how much you fear,

because it's going to be a lot easier than just

fighting him on it. And so Jonah is not the only

one that had to have second chances. Throughout

history, we see a God of second chances, not

just in Jonah, but we see it all throughout a

thread of history. Let's just start with the

scriptures. Where do we see a God of second chances?

What's that? Okay, Adam and Eve. What's that?

David. Yep, absolutely. How about Abraham? How

about Samson? Peter with the denial. But then

I got to thinking about, all right, who else?

Can I think about throughout history that's not

just in scripture and I thought about if you've

never read it I would highly encourage you to

read it the confessions by Augustine I Had to

read it in seminary and at first I was like,

oh, this is gonna be brutal It actually ended

up being a very very good story Confessions is

about Augustine's past and what he was saved

from and how Faithful his mother was to pray

for him always and so Augustine took the long

way around for his conversion. Augustine wasn't

converted in a crisis moment. He resisted God

for years. He chased pleasure, philosophy, and

status. He wanted to be a politician. He wanted

to be somebody because he was a really good orator.

And so he wanted desperately to be famous and

to be looked at as very smart. And ultimately,

his mother continued to pray because she herself

was a faithful believer. And there was a man

who was her pastor, her priest. who was also

very smart, and Augustine would go to him and

debate him over and over because he wanted to

prove that what this man believed wasn't real

and he wanted to prove that Christians were ultimately

really stupid and that they fall for anything.

And then what happens? But he goes and he would

constantly debate this man in front of hundreds

of people and this man would... ultimately show

him that he had the answers and Augustine didn't.

And it ripped Augustine to shreds. He couldn't

stand it. He couldn't stand that his pride was

continually getting battered and battered. And

then finally God got him weary and broken and

he finally surrendered and he went on to become

one of the most influential theologians in church

history. Highly recommend the confessions. But

then let's look at another man who's not so famous.

His name is Jacob de Shazer. He was an American

pilot who was captured after the Doolittle raid

in World War II. As a prisoner of war in Japan,

he was filled with hatred and bitterness. Given

a Bible while he was in prison, de Shazer encountered

Christ and repented. And after the war, instead

of returning home to live quietly, he went back

to Japan as a missionary to the same nation he

once wanted to destroy. And so that first point

that I did not read again for the second week

in a row is a new chance. We all get new chances.

We serve a God of second chances. Whether you

already are surrendered to God in the sense of

your faith and salvation, and He's called you

to do something and you're walking in those disobedience

with, you get a second chance. You get a do -over

to say yes to that. or you're somebody that's

sitting here who does not know Christ and he's

continually crying out to you saying, just go

ahead and just surrender and stop fighting me.

Point number two, Nineveh's notable response.

So let's look at verse four and five. Jonah began

to go into the city, going a day's journey and

he called out, yet 40 days and Nineveh shall

be overthrown. and the people of Nineveh believed

God, they called for a fast and put on sackcloth

for the greatest, from the greatest of them to

the least of them. And so Jonah finally preaches,

he gets the word out, but he's preaching out

of a desire to see Nineveh become decimated and

destroyed. He doesn't preach because he loves

Nineveh, he preaches because he has to. His heart

isn't burning for their salvation. It's bracing

for their judgment. There's no altar call. There's

no invitation, no hope offered. Jonah just walks

into the city preaching destruction and then

waits to see if God will drop the hammer. But

does God drop the hammer? No. In his goodness

and in his grace, he doesn't. But here's what's

funny. Well, I'm getting ahead of myself. No,

will you grab me some water back there? I forgot

to get water. Sorry. Thank you. Yet the people

believe of Nineveh believe God. And that's the

shock of the text. The power wasn't in Jonah's

passion. It wasn't in God's, it was in God's

mercy. It wasn't in the fact that Jonah was a

great orator. It was in God's mercy. It wasn't

that Jonah had a great band. It was in God's

mercy. Jonah's heart is still crooked. In the

words of Martin Luther, God does incredible things.

He draws straight lines with crooked sticks.

And that's what's happening here. God's mission

will not be circumvented because of a preacher

who has a bad heart. Even when a preacher isn't

right, the word still is. That should both humble

and encourage us. God can move in spite of us.

But what a tragedy to miss the joy of being fully

aligned with what God's doing. Here's what I

mean by that. In full transparency, there have

been places where God has taken me to do ministry.

and my heart has not been for the people. A very

good example is, thank you, bud. Way to carefully

walk that without spilling a drop. I wasn't worried.

Your mom wasn't gonna drive the three and a half

hours home, so if you wanna make it back home

alive, I know I can still be here. Anyway, when

I was at Westside, I did not want to go back

into youth ministry after having planted and

I just did not care for the kids there. I didn't.

I didn't like any of them. Less than five out

of a hundred. I found them to be annoying. I

found them to be, I found the parents to be just

absolutely, I just wanted to pull my hair out

constantly. And I just kept going like, why am

I here God? Like this is so, I'm above this.

And the Lord's like, are you? Are you though?

I don't think so. Your heart shows otherwise.

And so, Despite my crooked heart, we still baptized

teenagers and led teenagers to Christ. We still

saw parents wanting to learn how to disciple

their kids. It wasn't me doing that. It wasn't

because I was having a lot of fun. But God is

faithful even when you've got preachers and people

who don't have a heart for the lost. God can

save people in dead churches. He does it all

the time. God can still draw sinners through

flawed messengers. He does it here. And God can

still move even when hearts are reluctant. But

what a beautiful thing and what a holy privilege

it is when God's people are fully surrendered

and actually want what God wants. So here is

my question to you. Do you want to see your neighbor

saved? If you do, you will share the gospel.

Don't overcomplicate it. As we're seeing right

here, God does the heavy lifting. You don't have

to have an apologetics degree. You don't have

to know everything. You don't have to worry about,

because that's one of the things that people

are like, why do they ask a question that I don't

know? And I go, easy. You just say you don't

know. Right? You have to want to share the gospel.

You should want to share the gospel. Here's the

other thing, too. When you get the opportunity

to share the gospel with someone, and they come

to Jesus, they say yes. It is the most incredible

feeling in the world. Do you guys know what I'm

talking about? It feels like, this is the best

way I can put it, because there's no other really

words to describe it, but we had a young guy

in our church when I was a youth pastor in Arkansas

who came up to Nebraska with us to help us plant,

and he's about this tall and the girl sure is

and his and his wife is about this tall and so

they're they're quite the couple but um okay

he's more like this tall um he is very short

uh and she is taller than i am and so she anyway

he he was like wanting a wife, wanting a wife.

And I said, dude, what about faith? And he goes,

have you seen how tall faith is? And girls her

height don't wanna date guys that are my size.

And I'm like, brother, give it a shot, right?

Well, ultimately they meet or they get together,

they start dating, they're now married, they

have a baby, and I got to do their wedding. And

I reminded them during their wedding that if

it wasn't for me, they wouldn't have met each

other. Because he was too afraid because of he

was being so short That's what it's like to bring

someone to introduce them to Jesus It feels like

this like matchmaker thing and you kind of have

this like yeah, man Like I did that now you did

not do that God did that but there's that feeling

Does that make sense? Am I making sense at all

or am I just being crazy because that's that's

just the way it feels to me It's not difficult

to share the gospel with someone. There is a

guy who helps Eli with woodworking. And I told

Tracy, I went to see him this week and I said,

I shared the gospel with Arlie. And she's like,

you did? And I said, yeah. And she's like, what

happened? So I'm telling her. And as a matter

of fact, it was. the little book that I had there,

I had it in the car and he was asking me about

it. And he grew up Catholic, right? I think he

did. But anyway, as we sat there and we talked

about the weather, literally, we talked about

the different things of where God is working

and how I see the world. And he just smiled and

he was like, I've never heard that before. And

we just spoke, like I didn't say, hey, do you

want to give your life to Christ or anything

like that in that moment, but it was a very simple,

he didn't feel threatened by it. He didn't, it

wasn't like, hey, shut up, don't say, like, he

just smiled and was like, I've never heard that

before. And I think we overcomplicate so much,

like Jonah, in our fear, we run, and in reality

it's like, if you would just obey, there's no

telling what God is about to do. So anyway, back

to our regularly scheduled program. Nineveh reminds

us that God's mercy isn't limited by our expectations

or our prejudices or our grudges. Outsiders respond,

enemies repent, and the city we think deserves

judgment receives grace. The question for us

isn't whether God can work without us, it's whether

we're willing to join him when he does. So there's

something else I want to point out here though

that's pretty crucial for you guys to know. We

looked at in chapter one that the guys on the

boat, the pagans on the boat, they use God's

actual name. They cry out to Yahweh. We see that

capital L for Lord and that's. Whenever you see

that in the scriptures, that means they're using

God's name, Yahweh. But here, this is not what

is described. We see a capital G and that word

is Elohim that they use, which is a very generic

term. You guys have heard me talk about this

before, a generic term for God. So I began to

wonder, were they really crying out to God? And

as I dove in this week, Theologians are split.

Some say they didn't in the sense of turn to

God, they just added God, the true God, to their

other pantheon of gods. They were trying to please

the gods. And so I wanna talk about these two

real quickly and you can make your decision because

this isn't a heaven or hell issue, okay? I wanna

make that clear. If someone disagrees, It's okay.

But when we first see it, there's two main ways

to understand it. First, what the Bible clearly

shows us is when Jonah preached, the people of

Nineveh believed God. They fasted, they wore

sackcloth, and the king even humbled himself

in ashes. And most importantly, it says they

turned from their evil ways. Scripture says that

God saw what they did and relented from the destruction

he had announced. Later, Jesus himself said that

the people of Nineveh truly repented and would

stand as a witness against his own generation

because they responded to Jonah while Israel

rejected someone greater than Jonah. So, here's

view one. Either they genuinely repented, which

is, I think, the way we've all grown up hearing

and had faith. And so, there is sincere repentance.

And why, why do I think, because I, I still sit

with view one. I think they genuinely repented.

Why do I think that? Let me tell you. Well, I'm

told in the scriptures to judge things by its

fruit. So I'm going to ask you guys, why would

you think that they genuinely repented? What

do we see in the text that it blatantly tells

us? We're not reading into the text. It's there.

So what do we see happening? That would show

us that there was genuine repentance They left

their evil ways what else Yeah Yep, which the

the other theologians would say that's just God's

Grace still nonetheless right like even in the

midst of if they weren't truly repentant Like

they were repentant, but they were just adding

God to their pantheon, right? They would say

that just still shows God's grace in the moment,

but I agree with you. So what else though? What

else do we see? Yes. Wow. Cold star. So proud

of you. Yeah. There's sorrow over their sin.

They're broken over it. They then trust in God.

They change their behavior and God relents. And

so that's why it just makes sense to me that

there was true repentance. They begin to fast

and not only do they as the people have to fast,

but it even says that their animals have to fast.

The cows are like, I didn't sign up for this.

But also too, something that makes me believe.

So we've got Jesus saying it. We've got all the

keys to what it looks like when someone does

repent, sorrow over their sin, placing trust

in God, a visible change in behavior. That needs

to be very evident, by the way. But also too,

the book of Nahum, it talks about how the later

generation returns to violence and pride. And

so we have a generation that changes and then

a generation later it gets changed back. And

so there was a legitimate generational change

and then later on we see, so it would be contradictory

to me if God would ultimately destroy them when

he could have just done it then, if there hadn't

been real true repentance. And so. As I said,

there's the second view, the temporary limited

repentance, which argues that Nineveh's response

while serious may not have been full conversion

to faith in Israel's God. The people feared judgment

and responded appropriately like they would any

other God that they served. But this repentance

was short -lived or incomplete. But again, you've

got this tension. And so was... None of us repentance

true heart change or a desperate response to

a looming disaster and I would say it was real

repentance and it was ongoing you can Study it

for yourself and decide what your conviction

is because again It can differ from pastor Logan

you'll be wrong, but I'm just kidding All right

point number three King the Kings humble call

So we look at verses six through nine. but let

man and beast be covered in sackcloth and let

them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn

from his evil way and from the violence that

is in his hands. Who knows God may turn and relent

and turn from his fierce anger so that we may

not perish. So by the time Jonah's message reaches

the King of Nineveh, the city has already been

unraveling. Here's the deal. We see what's going

on in Minneapolis, right? Most everybody in here

isn't living under a rock. And so Minneapolis

is in complete and utter turmoil, okay? The leadership

of that city, in my opinion, is only continuing

to stoke a fire all the more. They're not looking

for peace because they ultimately hate and despise

our president and so they continue to stoke the

rebellion and the city is continuing to be to

burn and and just completely be decimated around

it and Innocent people are kind of stuck in the

middle So why do I bring that up? Because here's

the deal Even even in their rebellion, the king

knows that the society is already unraveling

of Nineveh and it's under his leadership. And

so I think personally that the king already was

like, I don't know how to stop this. He can see

it. And then here comes Jonah. Now, What I want

you to hear is this. We see in scripture why

societies unravel. When cities and nations fill

themselves with evil, the chaos that follows

isn't just bad decision -making, it is already

God's wrath at work. God doesn't have to send

fire like Sodom and Gomorrah. He automatically

begins to, when you are buying into an ideology

and you have decided to turn from him, guess

what? He begins to take his hands off because

the Holy Spirit is the one that holds back evil.

And so God's like, okay, here's judgment. More

destruction will follow, but you're already seeing

the judgment at work. Roman tells us that, the

book of Romans tells us that, that God's judgment

often looks like this. He removes his restraining

hand and allows darkness to run its course. Evil

consumes itself. Order collapses and peace disappears.

God will not forever hold back what we continually

choose. And that's what makes Jonah so astonishing.

God is not obligated to warn Nineveh, but he

does anyway. Before total collapse, before judgment

is final, God extends mercy. He gives them a

chance to turn, to restore order, and to find

peace, stability, and life, the very things every

nation longs for. We fight wars over this. Yes?

We all desire peace. We all desire stability.

We all desire the ability to make our own way,

and you can't do that in the midst of wreckage

and evil and constantly looking to other things.

Does that make sense? Again, I point to what

is happening right before our eyes with cities

burning down around them. And you see leadership

that doesn't care. And so all of this starts

at the top. The king doesn't defend himself.

He doesn't spin the message. He doesn't blame

the people. He steps down from his throne, removes

his robe, sits in ashes, and calls the entire

nation to repentance. We would all absolutely

croak if we saw Tim Walls do that. He repent

for the fraud that he has been partaking in.

that he would step down from his rule as governor

and go, I have sinned against all of you. We

are living in sin and I'm going to repent and

we all should repent. Everyone would be like,

what is going on? That's what's happening right

here in Nineveh. It's not impossible. We laugh

and we joke because it's like, it feels impossible,

but God is doing that here with Nineveh. We see

humble leadership, not power preserving itself,

but authority bowing before God. And here's the

mystery of mercy. When leaders humble themselves

before the Lord, God can heal more than hearts.

He can heal communities. God can bring peace

where there was violence, order where there was

chaos, and hope where there was collapse that

felt inevitable. And so that's exactly what Christ

does on a greater scale. The true King steps

down, he humbles himself, and through repentance

and faith brings lasting peace. And so here's

my question for all of you guys. Will we humble

ourselves before God or wait until collapse forces

us to? When God places us in positions of authority,

humility is not optional. It's essential. This

should be up here. Leadership in God's economy

is never about protecting image. It's about modeling

repentance. So when we fail, repentance cannot

remain private and internal only. It must often

be visible. Here's what I mean by that. If you

are in a place of leadership, and I'm about to

break this down into the micro scale, because

we're all in some place of authority in leadership.

When you fail, when you sin, your repentance

should not just be in your prayer closet, but

it should also be repentance to those you have

sinned against. So men, if we sin against our

wives, if we demean them in front of our children,

repentance must be both private and public. Our

children need to see that in our sin we seek

forgiveness and pursue reconciliation. If you're

a business owner, if we mistreat a customer or

an employee, if we cheat them, humility demands

that we admit fault openly and make it right.

This isn't weakness. It's faithful leadership.

Whether in the home or in the marketplace, leadership

is a public trust. And if we are going to lead

as believers, we must resolve to be public in

our confession, honest about our failures, and

quick to pursue repentance. Because humility

is how God restores both people and those we

lead. Point number four. Mercy manifested in

God's grace. The last verse, verse 10. When God

saw what they did, how they turned from their

evil way, God relented of the disaster that he

had said he would do to them, and he did not

do it. So, in all of this, mercy happens. The

Ninevites repents, the king humbles himself,

and the people turn from their evil ways, and

God relents. The destruction he had promised

does not come. Judgment is suspended and grace

is displayed in full color. This is the mystery

and the beauty of God's mercy. He does not delight

in punishment. He delights in repentance. He

waits. He calls. He offers a way back. Even when

failure has been deep, the rebellion has been

long, and the consequences are severe. I'm going

to pause for just a second. A good friend of

mine, We love to talk about the Bible, and we

met this past Tuesday, and he was like, we're

just kind of going through scripture, and he

goes, hey, man, what if we just started reading

through Jonah? And I was like, so did you know

that I'm preaching through Jonah right now? And

he's like, nope. I'm like, cool, well, we can

have all the discussion you like, because I've

been deep into it for a few weeks. And so he

says, well, The reason why I bring it up is because

he said, my son Ryan, Ryan is in college. He

comes home for the holidays and he says, dad,

can we just be people of the New Testament? Can

we just do away with the Old Testament? And he's

like, well, what do you mean? And he's like,

well, it just, it doesn't fit. Like when I look

at Jesus, And I look at the disciples and I read

the book of Acts. I don't see the same God as

I see in the Old Testament. And I said, so he's

saying like Andy Stanley, we should just like

unhitch what Andy Stanley said, unhitch our wagon

from the Old Testament. And he goes, yeah, essentially.

And he goes, what do you think about that? I

said, I think that's blasphemy. I said, not really,

it's not blasphemy in a sense, but if you want

to completely do away with the Old Testament,

you completely misunderstand who God is. And

he's like, okay, so what should I say to him?

And Ryan, I was his youth pastor, so he's not

struggling with faith, he's just like, how do

I make sense of this? And I said, God, when you

read the Old Testament, God is not some angry

middle school boy who is up and down with his

emotions. I go, the problem is we read it and

we go, oh man, they sinned then God did this.

And I go, and we read that as this person sinned

and then right away they're dead. And I said,

are some stories like that? Yeah, some stories

are like that, but that also is in the New Testament.

So I go, what you have to understand is like

with Jonah, cause that's what got the whole thing

started. Like with Jonah, the Ninevites had gone

hundreds of years doing this stuff. There have

been generations and generations of violence

and sin. And God is like, grace, patience, grace,

patience. And he's waiting and he's waiting and

he's waiting. And they just continue to add on

more gods and more gods and more gods. And God's

like, okay. Now's the time because I'm about

to put the belt to the booty if we don't change,

right? And so I go, you can't read the Old Testament

and just read it as God is just being dramatic.

I go, you have to understand holiness. You have

to understand who He is. You have to understand

justice and love. And I go, and you cannot understand

it fully apart from the Old Testament. You have

to see it. The reason why I bring that up is

you see the grace. Don't read this as the Ninevites

had only been doing this for a few years. No,

this has been generations of sin and violence.

And here God is in His mercy and in His grace

going, okay, we're going to send someone and

you've got to know. And so no matter our past,

no matter our mistakes, God offers forgiveness.

He offers renewal and a chance to live in right

relationship with him. But grace is not passive.

God's mercy invites a response. We are called

to reflect in our lives. We are to forgive, to

humbly repent, and to extend Christ -like love

in every sphere we touch. The same God who relented

from Nineveh's destruction is the God who offers

mercy to you right now. that assurance move you

to obedience and to humility and to live out

that grace. I want to close with this. I wrote

this in a blog yesterday, and so you know how

I'm closing if you read that yesterday, but do

you guys know who Philip Yancey is? Philip Yancey

is a famous author. Christian speaker, he's very

well known for more of that like kind of psychology

counseling -ish type stuff, but he wrote a couple

of books. One is, he's written a lot of books,

but his most famous ones are What's So Amazing

About Grace, The Jesus I Never Knew, Finding

Grace When It Hurts, stuff like that. We saw

him speak about four years ago at a youth conference

and that's not where he typically speaks, okay?

Not to youth. And he looked awkward and he admitted

that he was feeling awkward preaching to youth.

But I told Tracy on our way home, I said, I go,

there was something else there about Philip Yancey.

When he was speaking I said it wasn't his awkwardness

that he was preaching to youth I said I felt

like he didn't believe what he was preaching

And I don't know I don't I can't tell you without

a benefit of the doubt that That he did he doesn't

believe like I can't say any of that but What

just recently came out in the news this week

is that he just admitted to an eight -year affair

with a married woman and so What I find very

interesting is also on top of that, his wife

of 50 years has decided to stay with him. And

you may be like, yeah, okay, well, you know,

that's her prerogative. And yes, no one would

blame her if she left. She has every biblical

right to do so. He broke the covenant of their

marriage. But what gets even more interesting

is that he also, It was also announced that he

has severe Parkinson's disease and he's slowly

deteriorating and he can no longer care for himself.

He can't feed himself, he can't wipe himself,

he can't bathe himself. But his wife, even in

his physical decline, has decided to become his

full -time caretaker. She could easily walk away,

as I said, and nobody would blame her. But she's

decided, she chooses to say, she's showing grace,

she's showing kindness, she's showing mercy in

the most tangible and costly way. She's chosen

the narrow way. Now, if you're here and you're

like, hey, my spouse cheated on me, I didn't

stay, are you saying that I'm not great? No,

I'm not saying that at all, at all. I'm just

saying that this is incredible. And so what I

find ironic about all of this, and it's easy

for me to look back at that time he was speaking

and go, oh, that was the problem. That was the

sin problem. And he probably doesn't believe.

But I find it ironic that his most famous titles,

What's So Amazing About Grace, The Jesus I Never

Knew, is now being played out in a living story

before his own eyes. He's experiencing the mercy

that he probably saw as just abstract. Grace

isn't just a concept in a book. It's a choice

to forgive and to love and to stay when we're

wronged, even when it would be easier not to.

And so that, deciding to stay, deciding to experience

and show mercy, This woman is literally being

Philip Yancey's redeemer in real time. She is

loving him, caring for him, even though he betrayed

the covenant between the two of them. That's

mercy. That's grace and that's who God is We

break the covenant with him all the time And

yet still he stays and he fights So he's a god

of second chances He's a god who who chases continually

after us He's a god who stays Let's pray